Parents, friends or older siblings who purchase alcohol to give to under-18s should face tough punishments such being made to clean up city centres in the morning, the think tank Demos has said.

Other suggestions include banning those caught breaking alcohol laws from their local off-licence or prominently displaying posters by the counter to “name and shame” them.

In a report titled “Sobering Up”, the think tank said that police forces should set up “booze borders”, refusing entry for drunk individuals into areas with high levels of alcohol-related crime or health problems.

The report cites statistics claiming that a third of 11 to 15-year-olds have admitted obtaining alcohol in the past month.

Of those, 19 per cent were given the alcohol by their parents, the report states.

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Jonathan Birdwell, the head of the Citizens Programme at Demos, said: “The majority of teens get their alcohol through parents, friends and older siblings, rather than buying it themselves.

“However, these proxy purchasers aren’t facing the consequences for the harm they are doing.

“All the evidence shows that under-age drunkenness increases alcohol risks later in life.”

Mr Birdwell added: “Our research suggests tackling certain high strength drinks, or just test purchasing shops is not sufficient. We need a tougher, smarter approach. This includes threatening parents who buy alcohol for their children to drink unsupervised with 'social shaming’ like community service.”

In the report, Demos also warns of the problem of people “pre-loading” on cheap alcohol in their homes before going out into town centres.

The think tank urged the police to start turning drunk people away from town and city centres, issuing them with a warning or making them sober up in a designated area.

“Giving drunk and disorderly people entering city centres a 'yellow card’ and denying them entry or forcing them to sober up would also moderate excessive pre-loading by denying people the fun night out they had planned,” Mr Birdwell added.

James Lowman, from the association of convenience stores, said: “Every day thousands of shop owners and workers are on the front line of tackling alcohol related harm, they prevent under-age sales and sales to drunks.”